Faculty/Author Profile

Peter K. Stris

Stris & Maher LLP

Costa Mesa, CA, USA

Peter K. Stris is one of the most prominent business litigators of his generation. In 2014, he was named by Reuters as one of the 66 most influential practitioners in the nation before the United States Supreme Court. His high-profile business litigation practice was recently profiled by the National Law Journal (July 8, 2015) and Bloomberg (November 24, 2015). Peter represents both plaintiffs and defendants, and his client-base is notable for its diversity. He currently represents or has represented Fortune companies and their senior executives, investment and financial services firms, start-ups and entrepreneurs, states and other government entities, as well as individuals and classes of individuals.

A skilled trial lawyer, Peter is regularly hired to resolve contentious business disputes in state and federal courts throughout the country. He has achieved remarkable victories for defendants. For example, he successfully defended a Global Fortune 100 company in a nine-figure trade secret trial in South Texas state court, achieving a jury verdict one-tenth the size of his client’s pre-trial settlement offer. The case was extensively covered by the McAllen Monitor which colorfully described Peter’s closing argument after the jury was asked to award $100 million in compensatory damages. (“Holding a lottery ticket, Stris told jurors . . . ‘She thought she had a ticket to the Texas Mega Millions.’”). Peter has also obtained significant recoveries for plaintiffs. Most recently, he obtained well over $16 million for dozens of pensioners in an ongoing multi-year litigation against Xerox in the Western District of New York.

Peter is equally adept before appellate courts. He has argued six cases before the United States Supreme Court. His 2007 victory in a 401(k) case was described by the New York Times as “one of the most important rulings in years on the meaning of the federal pension law.” And like his litigation practice, Peter’s appellate practice is national in scope. He has handled business cases before the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, and Federal Circuits as well as state appellate courts.

Peter received his J.D. in 2000 from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and his B.A. in 1997 from the University of Pennsylvania, where, together with Elizabeth Brannen, he won the National Debating Championship defeating Brendan Maher and his Stanford University partner (the top ranked team of that year) in the final round.